Divine Decree
by YaoiSanctum
Summary: AU. No specific time period. Those with powers are gathered to govern the world in Clans. Rin and Haru have been best friends since childhood, but after their abilities awakened, the two kids were separated and forced to became a part of the same Clan. In a world where they are required to spy and shed blood to survive, will they ever hope meet again? M (lemon) in later chapters.
1. Prologue: Promise

**A/N: **Hey guys! I was in deep need of more RinHaru fanfiction, and decided to write my own. This is seriously my first time writing, though, so please be gentle with me!

(The first chapter is very short because I had no idea where to begin..so it's basically just a flashback between Rin and Haru as children..)

10/7: I rewrote the prologue!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Free! or any of the affiliated characters.**

* * *

_Three Years Ago..._

Back then, Rin and Haruka were orphans who had never even seen their parents before. The two children considered each other as family, since nobody wanted to care for them.

There was one reason why that was so-Rin and Haru were born with a mark, which symbolizes those with special 'abilities'.

Although their powers remained dormant, the townspeople were jealous and afraid of their abnormalities. They were always looked upon by the townspeople with hatred-even the caretakers, who gave them less food than the others, scolded them more often, and even gave them more 'severe' punishments.

Rin and Haru always stuck to each other as if they were each other's lifeline.

Rin, the braver of the two, would do anything to protect his friend. Haru, on the other hand, was like a guardian, who always looked after Rin and stopped him from getting into trouble.

Those two were inseparable.

* * *

"Rin, you shouldn't be doing that. It's too dangerous."

The black haired male said when he saw his friend climbing up the tree, next to the rushing river. It had rained just earlier that day, and the water was flowing dangerously fast.

"Haru, you should come over here too! We need to get up there."

Haru sighed. Despite his earlier warnings, the boy followed his childhood friend up the tree.

Earlier that day, Rin had told him that he would show him "a sight you've never seen before", and Haru had promised that he would go with him.

So there they were, sitting at the very top of the tree, watching as the sun descended, and the skies turned dark.

The two friends remained silent as they watched the sky for any signs of stars, as they always do during summer nights.

As they just sat there, waiting for the stars to come out, Haruka thought about their future. The dark haired boy had always been wary of how the townspeople thought of them, and he was afraid for both of them.

What if someone tries to rip the two apart one day? He never wanted to be separated from Rin.

"Rin..will we always be together?" He asked his friend in a soft tone.

The scarlet haired boy turned to look him in the eye and grinned.

"Of course we are, Haru! Let me tell you-when we grow up, we will live in a huuuuge house together out in the countryside. We can even grow our own food and, of course, occasionally go to town to buy your favorite mackerel. In the evenings, we will go for a swim at the river. And every night, we will stargaze together until it gets too dark to see.. Yes, we will always be together, Haru."

Haruka's eyes seemed to sparkle as he listened to Rin speak.

"Do you promise?"

Rin held out his pinky and hooked it around Haru's.

"Of course! I swear upon the stars we see tonight that we will always be together. Forever."

Rin then grabbed onto his friend's hand as they both looked at the sky to see the first few stars of the night. Tonight was special, though, and they watched as rocks began to fall in the sky, creating a meteor shower-a sight that will last forever in both of their hearts.

* * *

**A/N:** Yes, I rewrote the prologue. I almost had to facepalm myself when I reread it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this, and please leave a review!


	2. Chapter 1: Disjunct

**A/N:** Phew, I really had a lot of fun writing this chapter-not because I like seeing them in pain, but because I finally got some plot going. This is still part of the flashback, because I feel that the past is very important when it comes to character development and such. I hope you will enjoy this!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Free! or any of the characters.**

* * *

The next day, everything took turn for the worst.

Both Rin and Haru had finally realized that they were capable of doing things that was very abnormal for children their age. Heck, it was abnormal for any human in the first place.

Likewise, the incident that occurred later on that night weighed much more in comparison with the mere punishments. Haruka would never forget it for years to come, for it was the very same day that Rin was taken away from him.

* * *

"Rin! Ngh..No, let go of me!"

Haruka was literally ripped away from his friend's grasp.

The masked men had suddenly rushed in the farmhouse before the sun had even risen, taking the two children away to separate bases.

Haru struggled for a while, but he gave up after a while when he realized that Rin was no longer present. The absence of Rin's warmth on his hand only made him feel more alone and anxious.

* * *

"Ha-Haruka, where are you?"

Rin had a bag shoved over his head and was already being carried on a horse, a few hundred feet away from his friend. He tried to struggle, but the bounds only seemed to tighten the more he tried to free himself.

Rin grew afraid that he would never be able to see his friend again as he felt the horse carry him further and further away. Rin cursed for the first time, at the sound of the horse's hooves that took him away to the most remote and unknown parts of Japan.

That night, the two terror-stricken children thought that they would never be able see each other again.

* * *

_Flashback_

Rin and Haru snuck into the kitchen early in the morning to get more food than the meager amount they were given each day.

Rin had told him stay put, since it was Haru's birthday, but the black haired boy refused to listen. Haru followed him anyway, just in case his friend got in trouble with one of the caretakers.

After grabbing two rolls of bread from the basket, Rin jumped down from the counter when he accidentally knocked one of the pans down.

The two of them looked at each other in horror and fear written all over their faces.

"Hurry, let's go-before they get here!"

Haru glanced back as they ran and saw that the caretakers were already at the scene.

Just as they were about to leave the orphanage, Haruka forgot to look ahead. The poor boy tripped and fell on the steps, right in front of the exit.

During the crisis, Rin did not notice Haruka's sudden absence behind him and continued to run.

A caretaker grabbed Haru from behind by his hair and dragged him to the punishment room.

"R-Rin!" Haruka watched as the door closed and his chances of escaping with his friend slipped away.

* * *

The poor boy had been punished several times before, since the other orphans would always lie to the caretakers and told on Haru every time they did something wrong. He never dared to tell Rin, though, since he was afraid that his overprotective friend would try to put up a fight for Haru and end up getting himself in trouble. The boy also knew that the caretakers could tell that the children were lying, but they would still punish Haruka, out of spite.

That time, though, the punishment was even more severe than before-the caretaker had resorted to physical abuse. She pulled out a punishment whip, and Haruka widened his eyes in shock. Before he even had a chance to react-

_Wapushh_!

A hair-raising crack was heard.

The caretaker lashed at Haru again and again, enjoying the cries of the helpless child.

"Agh! S-stop!" Haru cried, but the caretaker continued to whip the boy ceaselessly, while laughing maniacally.

* * *

Outside of the orphanage, Rin had finally noticed Haru's absence. He scolded himself mentally for not being more careful, and realized that his friend was probably caught by the caretakers.

Rin climbed up the orphanage wall to go back and help Haru escape.

When the boy reached the other side, he could clearly hear his friend's screams coming from the punishment room.

Rin had always known that his friend was unfairly punished for deeds that other children had done, but Haru never wanted to talk about it, so he never did. However, judging by the way his friend had cried out, the caretakers clearly took it too far.

Rin hurried into the punishment room.

When he saw the state his friend was in, he was outraged by the inexorable method they used. Not even thinking of the food anymore, Rin threw the two pieces of bread at the caretaker.

"Here, you can have these back-just stop hurting Haru!"

The caretaker glared at Rin.

"Naughty children who are caught should be punished. This is what you get for trying to steal."

She raised her whip and was about to slash at Haru again, when she suddenly felt her muscles constrict, and she couldn't move. Rin's eyes were glowing.

"I said stop this right now." The scarlet haired boy said in a harsh tone of voice.

Haruka felt chills run up his spine. The look on Rin's face was really terrifying.

"R-Rin..?"

Hearing Haru's voice, Rin snapped back. He had no idea what just happened, but Haruka was more important at the moment. Seeing Haruka's tattered clothes, Rin started to tear up once again.

How could they do something like this to Haru?

He hastily made his way to Haru's side, but something seemed very off about the ragged boy.

Haruka was kneeling on the ground, suddenly breathing very hard.

Rin scanned his friend's body for the whip marks, but then he noticed that the pale skin was left unmarked.

"Huh? Haru, what happened to your wounds?"

Haru didn't know wither. He looked at his friend with frightened eyes, unable to process what was going on with his body. One moment, he was feeling intense pain from the lashes, but then the pain started to leave his body, almost like smoke rising from a burning fire.

"Nevermind, let's just get out of here."

Rin grabbed Haruka's hand and they ran out of the orphanage through the backdoor.

That night, the two boys went into a farmhouse that night to hide themselves. They had planned to leave the town the next morning, but it never happened..

* * *

Caretakers' POV

After hearing what the children did, the caretakers were appalled.

The caretaker who was left with punishing Haruka was found immobilized with whip wounds on her back.

This was not what fazed the caretakers though.

Contrarily, they were actually relieved. It was finally time to call for 'them'.

Who wouldn't be at ease, knowing that the the troublesome children will finally be put in different hands?

_'They' had come by several years ago after hearing about the two children who were born with the mark.._

_The two babies were left in front of the orphanage that morning, and the owner had taken them in. As he inspected their bodies, the owner was taken aback by the mark on their shoulders, and decided to ask for help with the matter. A traveler who was staying in town at the time came to have a look at the marks. _

_Unbeknownst to the townspeople, the traveler was none other than the leader of a notorious Clan in Japan, who was both feared and respected throughout the whole nation. _

_He told the owner of the orphanage to care for the children and call for 'them' when they start to show any signs of abnormalities._

As the traveler mentioned, the punishment room incident was anything but normal.

That night, the Clan came to whisk Rin and Haru away.

* * *

**A/N:** I apologize if my wording and terrible grammar made you feel unpleasant. I really wanted to get another chapter out before the ideas run from my head. So sorry, this is the best I can do for now. Hopefully, my writing gets better after more practice! See you guys next chapter!


	3. Chapter 2: Depart

**Disclaimer: I do not own Free! or any of the characters.**

* * *

Haruka's POV

During the first week of his stay, Haruka had attempted to escape several times, but each of his efforts was crushed by the patrols that had caught him every time he tried to run.

By the second week, Haruka had already given up on escaping after realizing that the patrols were specifically assigned to watch his every move.

At the Clan base, Haruka had his own room, and was fed with sufficient amount of food every day.

Life was much easier than when he was at the orphanage, but Haruka was missing something, or rather, someone very vital to him-Rin.

Every night, Haruka would sit by the window to gaze at the stars, always thinking about his lost friend, and the promise he made with Rin.

Haruka had gotten accustomed to the life inside the base rather quickly after the second week, and was even able to attend the classes and training.

The boy, however, was incapable of communicating with anyone other than Rin, so he was always alone.

With nothing better to do, Haruka trained hard and quickly rose to the top of his classes after merely three weeks. Impressed by his seemingly endless potential, the captain assigned Haruka to do individual training with an expert on an island not far from their base.

The black haired boy was told that the training was supposed to last for three years in total. Haruka was going to refuse the offer at first, finding it to be too much if a hassle, but when he found out that the island had one of the country's most beautiful beaches and stargazing spots, he quickly changed his mind.

At the time, Haruka would have never expected the brutal training that lay in store for him..

* * *

Rin's POV

The red haired boy adapted to his situation so quickly that it almost seemed as if he had been at the base for several years already. Almost.

Rin was able to make many friends in his class because of his enthusiastic personality, or so it seemed.

In actuality, Rin put up a facade so he could quickly gain the trust of those around him to make it more convenient to squeeze information out of them.

The boy gathered as much information as he could about the Clan and of Haru's whereabouts.

Judging by the information he could gather at the time, all the children at the base had some sort of special 'ability', but Rin noticed that he was the only one with a mark on his shoulder.

They were all brought here to train their powers so that one day, they may be useful to the Clan and get assigned roles and missions.

It also seemed that Rin was brought to that particular base because of his power affinity, which also meant that Haru had a different type of ability than him.

It would take years for him to find and locate which of the thousands of base Haruka was being held captive in, and not to mention the guards who had been watching Rin closely since day one.

Rin decided that he would look for Haru after he finished his training.

Surely, the boy had dearly missed his friend, and was genuinely worried for Haru's well-being.

That night, Rin sat by the windowsill to look at the stars, all the while thinking of his childhood friend and of the promise he made with Haru.

"Sorry, Haru..I wasn't able to keep my promise." Rin sighed.

* * *

As the weeks went by, Rin had already risen to the top of his class.

There was only one problem, though-there was no one in Japan with similar abilities to Rin. He had moved from base to base during the past few weeks because of his rare power, but was never able to meet anyone with similar powers.

The fruitless efforts finally came to an end when the superiors finally decided to send Rin to an Australian base to do his training.

Rin had no choice but to comply with his superiors' wishes.

As he departed Japan, Rin locked away all thoughts of his childhood friend.

He had made up his mind to train hard every day until he could one day get back to Japan to look for him.

"Just wait for me, Haru.." Rin said to himself as the ship set off toward Australia.

* * *

**A/N:** Yaay, another chapter finished! This was originally supposed to be one 2K word chapter, but I figured it would be too much. I will post the next chapter first thing tomorrow morning. Hurhur, I won't go too much into the details of their training, so the flashback will finally end in the next chapter. Look forward to it! Also, please leave a review! :D


	4. Chapter 3: Arrival

**A/N:** Sorry, I lied. I didn't have time to edit the draft yesterday, so I kind of forced myself to do it this morning. My writing and grammar is not perfect, so it actually takes more time for me to edit than just writing the plot out. Please bare with me!

This chapter is primarily from Haru's POV, and I painstakingly made it longer because of the explanations.

Anyway, please enjoy! :D

**Disclaimer: I do not own Free! or any of the characters.**

* * *

_Three Years Later..._

Haruka's POV

Twenty masked men jumped from tree to tree. They were closing in on him.

The raven haired boy quickly took out ten daggers from his waistband as he caught onto the targets' movements.

The boy jumped out and moved swiftly from tree to tree, efficiently pinning his targets to the trees by their clothes.

Within a few moments, the masked men were all immobilized, and the boy walked away from the field, unscathed.

"Congratulations, Haruka-chan! That was very impressive-you passed the test with flying colors!" His couch said, but he was left with no reply as Haruka walked off toward his favorite spot on the island to gaze at the stars. It was already nighttime, and Haruka had no time to waste to see the meteor shower that only came once every year.

* * *

It has almost been three years since he first came to this island, and Haruka had been training hard every day since then to hone his skills. His coach was an expert at physical combat, and Haruka was pushed way over the limit each day to reach the expectations.

As time passed, Haruka gradually got used to the intense training, and improved on his skills at an amazing rate.

In fact, he was the one of the first of his age to graduate from the physical training and classes provided by the Clan, having just finished his graduation test.

Haruka had only one more week of training left on the island before he had to transfer to the main base.

* * *

The raven haired boy sat on his favorite spot atop of the tallest tree at the center of Iwatobi Island, as he gazed at the stars.

The view brought back nostalgic memories of the time when he was still with his childhood friend. But compared to then, the brunette was truly alone.

The three years of isolation and training on the island had only made him all the more introverted. If his past self was antisocial, his current self could be close to misanthropy.

* * *

_One Week Later_…

After one more week of tiresome training, Haruka finally departed Iwatobi Island.

A fellow graduate by the name of 'Rei' had come to serve as Haruka's traveling partner to get to the base.

Rei, like Haru, was able to graduate early due to his power, since he did not require much training for it—his ability was simply a part of him ever since he was born. Rei's power allows him to archive and memorize all the information he learns.

Rei had memorized all the routes, landmarks, and all sorts of geographic information, so it was very convenient to travel with him. The two teenagers were able to reach the main base in four days by feet.

* * *

The main branch is an underwater base that was created using barriers made and maintained by hundreds of ability users. Rei and Haruka were able to pass through the barriers because they both have a Clan mark that was engraved on them after they passed their respective graduation tests.

As they walk inside, Haruka stared at the surrounding view in awe. To a water lover like him, this place is a paradise.

"Haruka-san, the living quarters is just two floors down. You can go down the platforms and into the lobby. Someone should be waiting there for you to give you a tour of the base and bring you to your room."

Haruka did as he was told, and went down the ability-powered moving platforms.

Just as Rei said, a tall boy was waiting for him inside the lobby.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Makoto. Since this is your first time in the main base, I will give you a tour first and bring you to your room."

Makoto guided Haruka to the cafeteria, the assignments room, the bathhouse, the library, and best of yet, the gym, where the swimming pool is. After a full tour of the base, the taller boy led Haruka to his room.

"At the base, everyone has their own dorm mate, but since you are a new member, you will have a temporary dorm mate until you get an assigned partner for missions."

Haruka thanked Makoto after he finished his explanation, and the black haired boy was left in the room by himself.

One side of the room was filled with bright colors and plushy, and clothes lying around everywhere. But at least his side was untouched, Haruka thought to himself.

After a while, Haruka's temporary roommate was back. His roommate was a short blonde who calls himself "Nagisa". At first, Haruka was a bit perturbed by his roommate's overly cheerful personality, especially since he kept insisted on calling him "Haru-chan", but he quickly became used to it.

Before they had even met, Nagisa was excited to learn that his roommate was one of the top scorers for the graduation.

Haruka learned from Rei later on that the short blonde was actually quite impressive himself.

Nagisa was brought to the Clan a few months before Haruka, and he was able to graduate from training just a week before him. And despite some of his annoying antics, Haruka was quite fond of the boy's friendliness, though he would never admit it.

On the other hand, Nagisa, Rei, and Makoto were all quite fond of Haruka. Something about the raven haired boy had intrigued them to gather around him. Because of this, the three teens would accompany him to the gym every day to swim.

After a while, Haruka may have even tolerated their presences. He found himself walking toward their table during every meal, and even enjoyed listening in on their conversation about each of their experiences in the outside world.

This was something new for Haruka, for they may be the very first friends he had made during the past three years.

Something was still bothering the raven haired boy, though. Even when he was with the three teenagers, he still felt emptiness in his heart, and felt a certain _longing_ to meet his childhood friend again. There was nothing he could do to fix that.

* * *

On the eighth day, all the new members who came in within the last month are assigned their first mission and their fated 'partner' whom they would be doing all of their missions with in the future.

Their Clan has a buddy system so that the missions will have better chances of success. Each group consists of two members with the same 'rank', which was given to each person during graduation based on their performance on their graduation tests.

* * *

"Rei-Chaaan! It looks like we're going to be partners from here on out. I look forward to working with you in the future!"

"Nagisa-kun, may we endeavor to have an everlasting and beautiful partnership." Rei said with a push of his glasses.

Nagisa and Rei had become partners due to their amazing tracking and brain power. They were put into the team category of tracking and spying, which means that their missions from then on only focuses on the latter.

Unluckily for Makoto, his partner is the notorious Mikoshiba, who was said to have the loudest snores in the entire base.

Makoto said that he was fine with it, though, since he was trained in a very intense environment. Even the loudest of snores cannot compare to the roaring winds of Iwatobi Mountains.

Having had the roughest of training, Mikoshiba and Makoto were put into the team category for guarding. They were put in charge of protecting the most important people, objects, and landmarks.

"Ah, Haruka, the superiors told me to report to you that your partner had recently just come back from training outside of Japan, and will be meeting you at your mission location." Makoto had told Haruka, before he left with his partner to do their first mission. Haruka nodded and thanked his friend.

Being two of the top ranking graduates, Haruka and his partner were assigned to fit in the category for capturing and assassination. It was the most dangerous and cruel job provided by the Clan, and only the two top ranking graduates every year were qualified to do it.

There were perks to having that role, though. Haruka and his partner would have more freedom compared to all the other groups since they had a lot of time to run their missions outside of the base. The Clan wanted their missions to be done quietly and efficiently, so they give their assassins up to two months to run each mission.

That means Haruka would finally have the time to search for his childhood friend outside of the base. He also wanted to see the outside world for the first time after being isolated for three years.

The raven haired boy wasted no time in preparing for his mission and left immediately after packing all of his equipment and weapons.

* * *

In three days, Haruka arrived at the Capitol, where he was supposed to meet with his partner.

As he walked through the crowded streets, he felt uncomfortable being in such close proximity with the strangers pushing their way through the crowded area. The raven haired boy quickly made his way toward the inn.

Just as he was about to enter the inn, Haruka notices a flash of red in his perpetual vision. The red hair caused images of his childhood friend to flashed through his mind.

"Rin?" Haruka quickly turned around, but the person was already lost in the crowd.

Thinking that he was probably just imagining things, Haruka turned back and went inside the inn.

* * *

When he got to the room, he was surprised to find that his partner was not present.

The mysterious teen's belongings were already on one of the beds, but the person himself was not there.

Haruka sighed and sat down on the untaken bed, and let his mind wander back to the stranger he passed by, just a few minutes ago.

"Rin.."

The name just slipped out from his mouth. But just a brief second later, the door flew open, revealing the most unexpected sight..

* * *

**A/N:** I'm pretty sure you guys can already tell who the 'mysterious teen' is. xD

Just a warning, but the next chapter probably won't be out for another two to three days. And I want to know what you guys think of the story so far, so please leave a review!


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